Nightmare Masquerade
by WhiteInfinity21
Summary: The Goblin King and the Champion meet in the Crystal Ballroom once more, but things are never what they seem and nothing will ever be the same after this night is over. JS


Nightmare Masquerade

By WhiteInfinity21

Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of The Labyrinth.

* * *

It was the same opulent ballroom filled with tarnished decadence and glory.

They were the same dancers, lavishly adorned and openly lewd.

It was the same music, sad, haunting and bewitching.

Everything was the same as it had been all those years ago, except for them.

He, splendid and feral, had not changed in appearance since they had last met. His demeanor likewise was unchanged, dangerous, seductive and cruel. But appearances are only skin deep and he was moving to finish what had been started all those years ago.

She, still lovely and enchanting, had grown taller, lusher and her eyes spoke of maturity instead of innocence. Calmness, along of a hint of something unidentifiable, had replaced the defiance and desperation that she had carried with her during their first meeting.

They came together, guided entirely by instinct. He the dark to her light. She the open compassion to his restrained passion, both cruel in their own ways.

They flowed and floated along the dance floor unimpeded by the swirling dancing couples. The songs flowed smoothly into from one to the next, with no discernable break in the music. As they danced eyes locked with each other they tried to discern the intentions of the other, time passing in the outside world both faster and slower then in the timeless, ethereal existence of the crystal ballroom.

Then the clock struck midnight.

The music halted abruptly, the dancers stopped their merriment where they stood. Silence fell over everything.

"It was a lovely dance my dear, but now everything is over," the Goblin King spoke, his voice oddly emotionless.

Then a wicked smirk crossed his face, "for you at least."

Sarah remained motionless, her face blank.

"It is time for me to leave," Jareth declared, "but you my dear are gong to stay. Stay here in this enchanted dream, forever more, the latest addition to my vast collection of Dreamers."

A sad smiled grew on the Champion's face as she shook her head softly.

"No I won't," she whispered, "you have no power over me. You can't do anything to me unless I wish it."

The room grew dark as an icy fury consumed the Goblin King.

"Oh yes I can," he growled, "you have spent thirteen hours here and now you are one of us. And as the King, I can do anything to you that I want."

"Time has run out for you princess," his spat, "and now I will be going."

Sarah reached up to caress Jareth's face.

"Time has run us for both of us," she murmured, "both of us will stay".

"What type of foolishness are you spouting?" Jareth demanded.

"Haven't you noticed?" Sarah asked.

"Noticed what?" the Goblin King angrily snapped.

"That I'm dying," Sarah replied.

Then the Goblin King noticed the blood that her hand had left on his face when she had placed it there. Shocked he looked more closely at the Champion.

Bright red rivers of blood were flowing down her hands that limply hung at her sides, dripping on her dress and onto the floor.

"I was just so tired of life," Sarah explained, "all my efforts at making my dreams come true destroyed time and time again. The world was dull and gray, cold and uncaring, without magic or life. I knew that the only way to get my dreams was to end my existence Above."

"So you slit your wrists and willingly let yourself be captured in this nightmare?" Jareth scoffed, "I never pegged you as a quitter. Such a worthless creature the shinning _Champion_ has become."

"This is my dream, how could I not want to be here?" Sarah asked.

She raised her bloody hands up to rest on the Goblin King's midnight blue frock coat, "and now I will spend the rest of eternity here in my dreams, with you, my heart's dream coming true."

"You forget yourself," the Goblin King silkily retorted, "I am King and you are just another lost Dreamer. I have no intentions of spending another minute with you. I have a kingdom to run after all"

"How can a king run his kingdom if he is dead?" Sarah responded.

Before Jareth could react, Sarah drew her finger across the Goblin King's pale throat. A line of crimson bloomed where her finger had traveled.

The Goblin King stumbled back gasping and clutching at his neck as the blood gushed from it. Distantly he could feel his sleeping body slowly dying as he continued to bleed. Jareth's heart was slowing and he could feel Death reaching for him as his life faded.

Sarah, bloodstained and horrific, stepped up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, keeping Jareth in place.

"You can't have him," Sarah spoke to something behind him, "he stays here."

Unseen a clash of wills went on above the dying Goblin King's head, determining the fate of Jareth's soul.

"This is my dream, my world," Sarah's voice rang clear with authority, "here I am Queen and I will not be parted from my King. My will is supreme here, leave Reaper."

A misty figure materialized behind the fallen Goblin King and mockingly bowed to the Queen of the Masquerade before fading away, the scent of decay and graveyards lingering.

And then the Goblin King died, passing peacefully away in his sleep.

His attendants would find the cold body the next morn when they came to get the King ready the day. Panic would grip the kingdom as they scrambled to find the next in line for the throne to prevent a bloody civil uprising.

On the nightstand next to the Goblin King's bed a single gleaming crystal quietly lay.

If one would to peer at it closely they would see a lovely couple dancing. Blond and blue, brunette and white on a background of pearly white and silver grey with flashes of other colors flicking in and out of site around the central pair, strains of the haunted and bewitching music they danced to lingering in the air of the bedroom.

And they danced for evermore.

* * *

Finally the Halloween fic that I had been meaning to do for years. Originally I started off with a much different plot but I got stuck and abandoned it. Then a stray plot bunny bit me (after they had avoided me for almost a year as if I carried the plague) and one hour later, I had the completed version of the Nightmare Masquerade.

Also to those of you who haven't heard, I'm putting out a call for drabble requests.

I'm putting a cap of ten or fifteen drabbles since it takes me a long time to write and because I'm a lazy creature at heart.

I'll try to get these done by the end of the year.

Till then please leave a contribution in the little box to feed the creative juices of this sad, muse-less writer.


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